City of Ithaca's Planning Board Considers Infills

Thursday, August 29th 2019, 9:38 PM EDT by Christina Episcopo

ITHACA,N.Y.(WENY)-- The Ithaca Planning board held a meeting Thursday night discussing the possibility of having infills in the city of Ithaca. An infill is a space that a homeowner can create and then rent out to the public. The infills would help the city when trying to keep up with the need for affordable housing by using space that is already existing or adding on to existing buildings

"It might be a small home in the backyard, it might be a small housing unit that's attached to a primary structure. So we're really just looking at alternatives for adding housing units to the existing houses instead," says Alex Phillips, Planner for the City of Ithaca.

The board had numerous display boards throughout the meeting for the public to leave their comments about where they believe these infills would be best placed. There was a slide show for the meeting which the board said they plan to post for those who were unable to attend.

"The cities job in this whole thing is really about what sort of regulations or what's the process that a homeowner would take to you know, potentially build or convert, you know either an existing structure or to make a new structure," says Phillips.

No immediate actions are being taken, Thursdays meeting was strictly to gauge a public opinion and hear what community members had to say about these infills.

If you were unable to attend Thursdays meeting, you can submit comments to Jennifer Kusznir at jenniferk@cityofithaca.org, or submit written comments to the City of Ithaca Planning Department at 108 E. Green Street, Ithaca, NY 14850.